Princeps (plural: principes) is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, foremost,[1] chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first person".
While Augustus had political and military supremacy, he needed the assistance of his fellow Romans to manage the Empire.
These titles included imperator, Augustus, Caesar, and later dominus (lord) and basileus (the Greek word for "sovereign").
[3] Ancient Rome knew another kind of "princely" principes too, like "princeps iuventutis" ("the first amongst the young"), which in the early empire was frequently bestowed on eligible successors to the emperor, especially from his family.
[8][page needed] "Princeps" is the root and Latin rendering of modern words as the English title and generic term prince (see that article, also for various equivalents in other languages), as the Byzantine version of Roman law was the basis for the legal terminology developed in feudal (and later absolutist) Europe.